Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
11.2
Sources: From Research Networks to Urban Networks
There are three principal types of indicators for studying scientific flows between
cities: (i) patent documents, including references to previous patents (citation). Ac-
cording to Jaffe, Trajtenberg, and Henderson (
1993
), a patent citing earlier patents
reveals knowledge flows between localized inventors. (ii) Co-authorship networks
related to joint publication activities indicate close working relationships and po-
tential knowledge flows between localized authors (
Matthiessen, Winkel Schwarz,
&Find
,
2010
). The main difficulty with these two indicators is collecting data
related to the cities where the innovative actors are located. (iii) Finally, we
consider scientific and technological collaborations between organizations engaged
in innovation processes (research organizations including public research centers,
universities and corporate research centers) within European-funded research and
technology development projects (RTDs).
Data were extracted from the EC database CORDIS RTD-PROJECTS (Com-
munity Research and Development Information Service) and were drawn from
the second to sixth European Framework Programs (FPs) for Research and Tech-
nological Development (the first FP is too incomplete to be used). The FPs are
4-year programs initiated in 1984 by the European Union to increase scientific
collaboration between European countries.
The CORDIS database provides information about the evolution of European
research support from 1986 to 2006. CORDIS data include the actual locations
of the organizations involved (not simply the locations of their headquarters).
Institutions may have several research centers located in different cities. Therefore,
we chose to identify the precise location of each research center (laboratory)
involved in NBIC-related projects. We then created urban networks by aggregating
CORDIS data at the city level to measure the links that these networks create
between cities (
Besussi
,
2006
;
Rota
,
2008
;
Rozenblat & Cicille
,
2003
) These links
represent bounds created by scientific collaborations between two cities involved in
the same NBIC RTD project. Through these collaborations, cities produce, attract
and diffuse knowledge spillovers that encompass the differential evolution of each
city in the future innovation wave.
For urban aggregation, we considered cities to be functional urban areas (FUAs)
defined in a comparable way throughout Europe (
Comin
,
2009
). Each laboratory
appearing in the networks was geographically located and then aggregated to the
appropriate urban area.
In total, the urban database includes FUAs with 10,000 or more inhabitants and
contains 9,300 research centers located in 800 functional urban areas within 117
countries. Among all functional urban areas in the database, 509 are located in UE
27. Two cities were considered to be connected if their institutions or enterprises
had collaborated on at least one project. Here, we focus only on European cities.
CORDIS data also make it possible to examine tacit-knowledge flows according
to the approach of Candice Stevens (
1997
), who identified for the journal OECD
Observer three main ways in which tacit knowledge can be exchanged: research
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